The voting public decided it wasn't to be, however. Some of those titles or nominees that missed out were unsurprising, with some heavy-hitting triple-A candidates unsurprisingly sealing the wins. Perhaps the biggest surprise was in the Best Handheld Game category, where some high quality 3DS titles missed out to Assassin's Creed III: Liberation on the PS Vita. The full list of winners is below.

I'm not surprised. The 3ds should have had a ton of wins, though. FE ACNL Pokemon X/Y and Luigi's Mansion all should have gotten something. The Wii U is Pii U so far, so they shouldn't have won anything for that, but the 3ds is one of the greatest handhelds of all time already.

Ew... it's sad that nowadays only the games who desserve GOTY range are the ones with photorealistic graphics, violence and guns shooting crappy deformed creatures-zombies. Sigh, even on the handheld side no 3DS title won something, even if it's the console with most top quality titles this year. It doesn't matter, I'm always going to be proud of you Nintendo!

The handheld title of the year really shows how this isn't a fair voting population at all, and is likely comprised mostly of the Sony/Microsoft crowd. Last of Us, Witcher, Bioshock, are all ones I could definitely see, and are all fantastic games, but the handheld gaming really shows something's wrong. Assasin's Creed Liberation received a consensus of "meh". It isn't groundbreaking. Its a handheld game attempting to be a console game and failing at it. Even on metacritic it sits at a 70.. ACNL or Fire Emblem are so much better and more deserving of this award.

Well I don't mind I don't think Nintendo usually does too well in these it is after like most award ceremonies more of a popularity game but omg how Nintendo didn't win handheld game of the year is beyond me we've had luigi's mansion, fire emblem and animal crossing just off the top of my head which have all received great reviews and tremendous sales success. Shocking

The only one of those I agree with is Game of the Year as GTA 5. Far Cry 3 as best gaming moment does feel acceptable but I thought that the tower climb in Tomb Raider was better of those that was available.

Been saying it for years, Video Game Awards are for the most part trash. For starters, in at least half the categories voting opened before some of the games in said categories even came out. Also, how can we vote on awards for that year if the year isn't even over yet? Heck, I'd argue that we should be voting for 2013 until at least March 2014 when people have stopped flipping out over the holiday rush.

There's also the very basic issue that people who are voting could not have possibly played every game in every category and therefore would have no idea which one they like the most. Yes, it's obviously going to be biased regardless, but with games it's impossible to have an honest opinion. There just isn't enough time to play all these games as opposed to movie awards that take very little of your time and money to watch everything in comparison.

So don't take any awards ceremony that claims to represent the entirety of gaming seriously when they can't even get their categories in working or acceptable order. I wouldn't really care if Nintendo won awards either way, but this isn't fair for any nominee. I'd rather see a Developer's choice awards where 100's of dev's each representing a separate studio come together and vote on which games they enjoyed more than a bunch of random people who happened across a voting site voting against things they haven't played.

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I can agree GTA V as game of the year, it should have best multiplayer, but the rest of the games are meh, also thought smooth mcgroove should of been the best youtuber with his originality of singing game songs.

It's like Nick's KCA's..The overrated always Win while the best are shunned.Even though Nintendo didn't win anything, The Golden joysticks are pretty minor and, right now, is Bias and Pathetic.The Best VG Company : NintendoMost Overhated for the dumbest reasons: NintendoBest Variety RPGs: NintendoNintendo wins a ''You Tried'' Star made from Lumas and Platinum.....yay...

Ok, I enjoyed Assassin's Creed III: Liberation and I think most of the hate that it gets is unfair. With that said, it is against some tough competion from the 3DS, and I can see how some people are upset. I love the Vita, and I think its a great handheld that gets alot of undue hate, but the 3DS simply had the better lineup this year. The Vita has not even gotten anything major this year until Killzone: Mercenary dropped.

So, in a way, I can see how the 3DS was more deserving of the win, although Liberation was awesome.

But on the console front, Nintendo really deserved to lose. The Wii has been on life support through 2012, and the Wii U has not really picked up until Pikmin 3 launched. And while Microsoft has been poor this year with their support of the 360, this is one of Sony's strongest years with their support of the PS3 and a lineup of really good games all throughout the year.

Although, I wonder why Steam won hardware of the year. Are they considered a hardware company now?

Ah sod them. The 3DS is on fire right now and that's all that matters. It's appauling that it didn't win anything but Nintendo can take comfort that they have some of the best selling and top quality games this year. I'm proud to be a 3ds owner and by looking at next year's releases, the Wii U will be joining the 3ds glory at last.

@Caryslan Damn, pretty brutal on Wii U i say, Please get off NintendoLife if you can't even support console that's not even a year old, Nintendo is not used to HD, i bet in One year, the PS4 and Xbox One will lose to Super Smash bros.Sorry if That sounded mean, but i saw no Wii U ads while PS4 keeps showing up...:/

Such an overwhelmingly narrow minded outcome. Sony tunnel vision is prevalent in this new generation of gamers. It's like a taste test where only bacon, sausage, ham, porkchops, and Jimmy Dean win any awards. There's so much more out there to eat than pig. And there's so much more out there to play than Sony consoles. Try telling that to these kids nowadays though...

@Caryslan Thank you finally someone with some mature since regardless of everybody probably bashing you on here at least you can comment your opinion without being a complete salty crybaby about these awards. Nintendo didn't win this year get over it.

I mean, seriously. Assassin's Creed 3 Liberations, one of the most underwhelming, mediocre games of the year won an award over Fire Emblem Awakening, which is perhaps the greatest handheld game of the entire generation? These kids don't know what's good anymore.

@Ralizah Had the majority of voters actually PLAYED Nintendo games, I guarantee you Nintendo would have won some awards. But from these results, especially AC3 Liberations overtaking FE Awakening, it's more than clear where the vast majority of votes came from- Sony fans who play nothing else but the Playstation brand.

Pretty much as expected: The winners are almost all games from big, wealthy devs / publishers. What a coincidence -.-Whatever, Nintendo doesnt need artificial prices to show that they still got it in them, even if the more narrow minded "hardcore crowd" is too cool for "nintendo kiddie games"

But man, what seriously ticks me off is Smooth McGroove not winning the Youtube price. That man deserves every bit of attention he could get.But i guess that the majority of the voters are people who are to blame for the current situation the whole gaming market is in -.-

@JaxonH Hold on now you blaming the Sony fans for these awards and AC Liberation? Really you that upset that you would possibly blame the Sony community that's kinda childish even for you man. And I'm not trying to start a argument or nothing but come on dude why keep blaming Sony communities for everything happening and calling people kids isn't the right direction except for the people are immature. This "Golden Awards" isn't all that great to begin with because of the disappointments facing so why should care what games won or not which you should know though that Nintendo has the Best Quality Titles and that's what counts right.

@Memeboy3 ??? are you kidding me why should you care Nintendo won plenty last year bro. Which I frankly don't understand why y'all at up at arms about this. It would be the same if Nintendo won ALL the awards and people from other communities would been the same salty crybaby position.

@D3athBr1ng3r187 Hey man I'm just calling it how I see it. Look at the list of winners and seriously tell me I'm wrong. I'm not upset, I'm just pointing out the truth of the matter is all. I honestly don't care who wins a stupid award, nonetheless, seeing mediocre Vita games beat all time 3DS greats is a little confounding, and speaks volumes for the type of people voting and what games they play. No need for YOU to get upset over me pointing out the obvious.

And yes, I said kids. Since most gamers who have no experience playing Nintendo games are in fact younger. Is there an underlying issue here I need to know about or something?

If I see an ill-conceived list of winners that includes mediocre games on Sony's struggling handheld that received more votes than seriously epic and amazing Nintendo games on a popular handheld many people own, am I wrong for pointing out the majority of voters are biased towards Sony and have little to no experience with Nintendo? If I see two sets of 3, an I wrong for calling the total 6?

@JaxonH LOL i'm not getting upset bro you are stating the obvious of what you said in your comments. Dude I grew playing ALL console games as much as you and these awards mean a damn thing to me. I'm just sick and tired of these immature arguments over what console or games are the best. Console Wars are trash in general and nobody shouldn't have to be a cancer to make it worse for that other gamers for what game or system they like. Nintendo lost this round maybe this or next year they will come back on top and prove why they the best so please don't let this Award thing get to you.

@D3athBr1ng3r187 Taking me wrong. Console wars have nothing to do with what I said. I own a Vita, I have a PS4 coming. I play Sony consoles. Never said anything of the sort to imply Sony is inferior to Nintendo. I said that certain mediocre games on Sony's console beat out epic games on Nintendo's, and that obviously that speaks volumes for who voted. That's all I said, nothing more nothing less

@D3athBr1ng3r187 omg dude, It's not hard to understand. Of course Nintendo has had mediocre titles. That's not the point. Listen carefully while I spell this out. Assassins creed liberation sucks. I own it. It competed against fire emblem awakening for best handheld title. fire emblem is best game I've played in years, scored 9s and 10s across the board. Yet, the crappy ass game on a precious Sony console beat the best game to come out all year, a game that happened to be on a Nintendo console. And THAT is what I'm referring to. Bias in Sony's favor with regard to the vote.

@JaxonH No crap I don't like AC series either........I "agree" with your comment and have nothing to say else in the matter but I'm apologize if I offended you in any way I just post my opinions if it's isn't much to none.

GTAV won GotY, even though it wasn't released when voting began. And Best Newcomer was won by a zombie shooter (and Studio of the Year was won by developer of said shooter). Make of those what you will.

@Memeboy3 One thing I want to bring up, I'm kinda neutral on all of this. I own Atari, Sega, Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft consoles. In other words, I'm not a fanboy who is loyal to any platform or company. I go where the good games are.

Now, I'm not bashing anyone here. And I will admit, I was harsh on the Wii U a bit too much. It is a young system, and like other new platforms needs a chance to develop and get the games out. I don't hate the Wii U, and I'm hoping it does well. I intend to get one when the price drops further.

Now, the Wii has not excuse and I would by lying if I did not say that I'm bitter toward Nintendo just dropping the Wii and its support. My opinion is simple on this matter, I invested hundreds of dollars in a Wii and the games, VC, and assocries only to watch features on the platform get turned off and Nintendo have a very subtile way of telling me I need to upgrade.

Now, before you think this is a critiscm directed to Nintendo alone, I am very unhappy with Microsoft's support of the Xbox 360. Rushing out a half-hearted Gears of War game and Fable Anniversary does not make up for a lackluster year or hide the fact that Microsoft also wants to drop the 360 and push everyone onto the Xbox One.

This bothers me because I don't have the money to upgrade to the newer systems. Not to mention, I remember back when the NES and SNES were well supported for a few years after their succescors came out. In fact, some of the best NES games came out after the SNES launched.

Much of my criticism is aimed at the Wii, and the fact that NIntendo has stopped supporting it despite millions of Wiis being in homes. Why not give Wii owners some more games? I know the Wii U needs games, and I'm not asking for a new Mario or Zelda. But why not support the Wii alongside the Wii U?

Instead, a system that has been on life support thanks to questionable support is being finished off and owners who can't or won't upgrade are left with nothing. Why? The Wii still sells!

So yes, allot of my bitterness towards Nintendo's home console business arises from that. I love their handhelds, and their home consoles often have cool ideas. But since the SNES, Nintendo has had a very bad habit of dropping their older console in favor of the newest one of the market.

While a systems' support does eventually dry up as the newer console gets established, it seems like Nintendo just tosses their old systems out the window the first chance they get. With the N64 and Gamecube, things were a bit more understandable, but the Wii is the second(or third) best selling console of all time. Why give up support on it?

Of course, like I said before, Microsoft is not guiltless in this either. It seems like they are doing the bare minimum to keep the 360 afloat.

Sony is the only one who is tossing major support behind the PS3, while launching a new console. Of course, they have the best track record since the PS1,and the PS2 all got new games and lasted for years after the new consoles came out.

I want to make one thing clear, I'm not a NIntendo hater. I own a 3DS and I love it. I love my WIi. But I played video games in the 90s, and I remember when the NES, SNES, and Genesis kept getting new games well after the new systems hit.

The NES got its final game in 1994 and was put out of production in 1995 years after the SNES launched. The SNES and Genesis lasted until 1998, and they even had a mini war that year where they fought over market share one last time.

Which is why I have some hard feelings on this. The Wii did not even make it a year before Nintendo pulled the plug despite it being their best selling home console.

But I will say this, I am hoping for the best with the Wii U. I might just wait awhile before I get one.

Meh awards, at this point it is a popularity contest rather than any sense of objective reasoning due to the voting system. In the end it matters what you think. For example, the occulus rift as the best innovation? Hardly, I think that award goes to twitch tv for bringing streaming into the hands of not just gamers but people around the world. The occulus really just locks you into making only one type of game, a first person style one.

I voted FE: Awakening for handheld game, but AC: Liberation is a much better game than most on here are giving it credit for. Most of the other winners look pretty solid to me. Nintendo has not been great these last couple of years, while Bioshock Infinite, The Last of Us and GTA are genuine Game of the Generation material.

Not surprising that the heavily overrated Last Of Us (it's good, but it's not great...It's no better than Uncharted 3 and it's stealth/survival gameplay isn't as involving as Manhunt and offers less variety) cleaned up, but Assassin's Creed 3 Liberation beating out all those quality 3DS titles? That's complete and utter BS.

(The guy who does Super Smash Bros is endorsing it. It would be brilliant if there was a way for me to experience the true vision of what the Virtual Boy wanted to be on it).

Mark of the Ninja is too slow its boring. (It is still easy if you don't even play it how its intended but it is not that fun).

Super Hexagon is pretty much perfect in a way that only really simple stuff like Tetris can be.

I think I would have got as much out of the last of us by watching somebody else playing it (And not die) as I did playing it myself.

Fire Emblem I am not bothered about due to the DLC and what it does to the game. Same as how others are about Bravely Default I am like that against Fire Emblem. (I bought the Gamecube and Wii ones but I am not bothered about it enough to get it against my principles).

@ToxieDogg I feel the same way about last of us its good not great and to me didn't feel to different than uncharted that's it now it seems like it's just completely overrated and yeah liberation isn't half of what most 3ds games are

Honestly ever since hearing about playstations backstabing ways paying retailers to avoid selling WiiUs in place of their products. I don't trust anything that pits Nintendo against anything anymore, Nintendo's to upfront and nice to do the same scumy tactics and ends up looking bad.

@SneakyStyle Nintendo may not do those kind of things now, but they were a very dirty company back in the 80's. They did numerous things that would be considered underhanded or cheap to ensure they remained the top company in gaming.

I'm not bashing them, but it comes with the terroity.

But where is the proof that Sony is doing any of this? Because every store I've been to has Microsoft, Sony, and NIntendo in their own sections. And Nintendo products are highlighted as well, especially the portables.

@SneakyStyle Nintendo has done some pretty scummy stuff (See the 4th biggest ever fine the EU has handed out). Nintendo of America still uses the exact same practice. Look at all the PC Engine games that were far superior to the NES versions that never saw the light of day in the West.

(See them stopping Amazon selling hardware recently. Funny thing is Amazon is probably the best Nintendo supporter. They sell hardly any used and they actually keep everything possible in stock for as long as possible.)

Funny thing about Sony is it is only a matter of time before Microsoft decides to destroy them and more than likely will succeed. (It will start with EA delaying sports games to Sony). Nintendo they will leave for the same reason Microsoft bailed out Apple when it was about to collapse. (Look at how long it took for Nokia).

@Caryslan I went into Game recently (Nintendo seems to think they have a good thing with them. Giving them a cut of every eshop code that is sold throughout Europe at any price lower than the RRP they charge.) from the door you cannot even see where Nintendo is. Everything faces the other way. Pokemon or Sonic Lost World at £39.99 new. Everything else £34.99 or £29.99 used. Some new shovelware. (I had to walk round most of the shop twice to even find it). I cannot see how that is good for them

Honestly, I'm disappointed and I only voted for, like, one Nintendo game. Most of these games don't really deserve awards, IMO...really, looking at this says more about their audience than anything else.

@BossBattles obviously you haven't been on various boards online in the past almost year. Definitely Nintendo's worst console other than the virtual boy. The Zelda game for the pii u might make the system worthwhile, but everything else is genuinely a rehash. Even the Smash Bros. game so far looks pretty rehashed (very few new moves clones look like they're going to continue to exist).

Although there is still hope for the console, especially for reviving pikmin and earthbound.

Until this year I WAS a major fan, Lately Nintendo isn't working for their money they're trying to get it by 'phoning in their work', they're trying to get rich from all those years of past efforts and the new games feel cheap and shallow. I was a fire emblem fan for years but this one looks good and feels like a pair of cheap throw away sunglasses. Well N you've lost my money...

@X-Factor Honestly, its not like Microsoft has had a stellar year themselves. Besides Halo 4, what major exclusives have they had? Gears of War: Judgement flopped, they burned their bridges with gamers when they first showed off the Xbox One, and they have all but walked away from the Xbox 360 at this point.

I'm not a fanboy, but Microsoft has dropped the ball this year. I can see Nintendo making a recovery on the Wii U and the 3DS remain strong, while Sony is making a good effort on both the PS3 and PS4(the Vita needs some work though), but this has been a poor year from Microsoft.

@SyFyTy If I ever find out they actively decided to only cater for the newcomers in order that everybody else has to buy progressively more and more games I won't buy anything from them again. I never end up content after finishing a game. (And not wanting to play anything like it for a while).If that is the gameplan I will play just indies.

It shouldn't really be a surprise that AC won the handheld category. All the people who refuse to play a Nintendo system voted for it, while all the people that know the many 3DS games are better split their votes between all the games, so no one 3DS game received a ton of votes.

@LDXD yeah but non-nintendo games are supposed to be rehashes. FIFA, MLB the show, halo, cod, etc. are all rehashes but they're superior from a technical standpoint to nintendo.Nintendo has to bring innovation to its games to win. Game Boy, Wiimote, link cables between red and blue, you name it. The gamepad is a poorly implemented so far, and all the games with the exception of pikmin 3 have all been ports or will be rehashes like WWHD DKTF or SM3DW. The pii u needs to take a page from the 3ds and bring some NEW games like Kid Icarus Uprising, FE Awakening or Dillon's Rolling Western .

@Peach64 Hardly, those games aren't close to game of the generation imo. Super Mario galaxy deserves that title. Plus there is no reason AC liberation should have won over any of the 3ds games that were up. Again, voting system is flawed towards popularity and the most vocal on the internet. I didn't vote because it required me to make an account.

@2Sang I think you're smoking the good stuff if you think that FIFA and the show is technically better than what Nintendo brings I'm not even going to get into it because I think you are clueless in the tech department no offense

The only category that I was happy for was the Yogscast. I watch the Yogscast EVERY SINGLE DAY EVER SINCE 2011! In fact, I'm even watching it right now. They might be overrated, but I'm sure that everyone agrees that these nominees are better than if someone like Pewdiepie came in... The Yogscast truly are the best Youtubers to me... they deserve to have double the amount of subscribers that they already have. By the way, the only ones who vote for these are really the Sony and PC gamers. I don't see any categories where I could imagine OUYA, Nintendo, or even XBox fans voting the majority over. What does Sony do to promote their awards so much?

With the 3DS taking the lead in handhelds, i'm really surprised a non-3DS game won the title but then again, the 3DS has soooo many great games that players had to choose from, thus the divided votes. Just a thought. XD

@LDXD Obviously you don't know basic math if you think that nintendo has better technology than xbox or playstation. faster processors, better framerate, more memory, better and more realistic graphics, the works.

@2Sang Nintendo makes more use out of lesser tech, you seriously think Nintendo don't have the technology to keep up with Microsoft and Sony? Which is underpowered compared to PC anyway all consoles have a strategy man math has nothing to do with this but if you want to talk basic math I'm sure I would run you through

AC3: Liberation won handheld game of the year? Shin Megami Tensei IV & Fire Emblem: Awakening were better (I've heard Liberation was good, but there's no way from what I've heard that it's better). Yogscast is overrated & GTA V definitely would've won best humor if there was a category for that, but it's not quite the game of the year.

@Caryslan If you mean highlighted you must mean taking the back of the games section in best buy or the corner immediately to the left but out of immediate sight in stores like gamestop right? While there is no proof of actual underhanded tactics, you have to admit that such lack of showing of Nintendo is a bit suspicious when the 3ds is the best selling console and the wii U is no less deserving of the most visible spot next to the register/in the front of the games section than the PS Vita.

3DS is my favorite console of all time but Persona 4 Golden should have won, that's what i voted for, not only best handheld game I've played but best game I've played period.... I think AC3 won because people who don't own either handheld voted for the only name they recognized, actual Vita gamers are not that fond of AC3 Liberation

@CaryslanSee how many Nintendo fans complain about Nintendo not having an award. You can see how dirty Nintendo was in the 80s and 90s. Nintendo has so many fans BECAUSE Nintendo established itself by playing dirty in the past.

By the way, which current game on Wii U deserves a prize? Mario U? Wake up, people!

The Last of Us won 2 awards for best newcomer and best storytelling. NaughtyDog won best studio and GTAV STILL won GoftY? That proves that people don't care about story as much as they should. GTAV is seriously overrated. No where near bad, but well overrated. As for AC:Liberation... W.T.F?

Honestly, Nintendo didn't release anything deserving of an award on any other platform other than the 3DS. It should have won something for the handheld category, but thats it. I don't know why all you people are getting so bent out of shape. I never even knew these "awards" existed until right now.

Sour grapes at most of you complaining about Sony's games winning most of the awards. Well...they deserve most of the awards, regardless of how you all view them (movie games, no better than Uncharted blah, blah). Outside of Fire Emblem, name me one Nintendo game that competed with GTAV, The Last Of Us, etc?! Right, you can't! Things will be a bit different next year for Nintendo, but right now the votes on the awards were just.

I personally felt that Fire Emblem should have won best handheld over AC. Then again, AC isn't a bad game at all like most are saying. I also thought Nintendo should have won the most anticipated or most wanted game from Smash Bros U.

What would cheer me up now is if... let's see... AH! Ninty announced an hour and a half Direct, filled with their plans and games that would blow our minds, TOMMOROW! But that won't happen. Or will it?

There's already been a lot of iffy poopoodoodiecacapoopsiedoodles about these awards - every single game that won either had the Head of Marketing in Europe, or was European-based. There's a lot of idle talk online that that's just too much of a coincidence and that the awards group may not have wanted to fly anyone in from outside the Eurozone (ie: Japan or America).Watch the profanity please — TBD

Last of Us deserves game of the year over GTA... At a time when most developers are releasing updates of old games (Nintendo too), Naughty Dawg deliver a brand new IP with stellar production values and a real emotional story. GTA is an exceptional game but feels like I've seen it before.

@ Volcanoflames: it won't happen.
Nintendo has been teasing that great things wait ahead for too long now. Either they don't have much up their sleeves or their sleeves are too long.
They keep saying " you'll see", and i keep telling them "i'll buy when i see."
All this referred to WiiU, ofc 3DS is doing well for me.

About the awards, they are a mixed bag for me, as i don't think The Last of Us was THAT good. It lacked heart, just as all Naughty Dog games do, force feeding you emotions that aren't there.
GTA V deserves game of the GEN, imho.
And as a happy owner of a PSVIta, i can say that AC: Liberation was meh, and didn't deserve to best handhled at all.
Don't know about FE: Awakening, i did not like it as much as the previous entry, too baroque and unfocused storytelling. Too easy too.
Also, i noticed that there aren't japanese games or companies among the winners, so i guess that might ring a bell about these awards.
And, seriously? Steam as best platform? it's not even a platform!

@Bliquid Steam is a platform. Steam is a gift from ancient gods and Gaben for PC gamers to finally create the ultimate distribution platform and establish the centralised PC platform which can now seriously compete with consoles.

@TheLohoped : sorry, it came out wrong.i agree with you as i'm a satisfied owner of a Steam account. And boy, do i love summer!But it's a game hosting service, not a platform.Would you say Origin, or GoG, or Amazon are platforms as intended in video game industry? They aren't. PC or MACs and their respective OS are.As long as Steam Machines don't come out, at least.

AC: Liberation? I played through the game once, thought it was ok, and then sold it. It just isn't a special or memorable game. On the other hand there were many great 3DS titles like Fire Emblem. So I can't say I agree with them.

@Rafie "Outside of Fire Emblem, name me one Nintendo game that competed with GTAV, The Last Of Us, etc?! Right, you can't! "

I own The Last Of Us and have played several hours on my son's copy of GTA V – in my opinion Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, Pikmin 3, and The Wonderful 101 are each better than them both combined.
The Last of Us has one of, if not THE greatest intros I've ever seen, but the gameplay I find desperately disappointing. It's not a patch on ND's Uncharted series, for example. GTA has always left me a bit cold, however I can appreciate what it does well: the scope and realisation of the city and the freedom to do so much, but the gameplay never, for me, reaches the same highs. V was the best playing GTA so far, I think, but it's still not that great. The story however and, in particular, the characters are very forgettable.

Very poor choices in many awards. Nothing for The Walking Dead at all? Oculus Drift is innovative??! What, 22 years after Virtuality was in London's Trocadero Centre? Nintendo Land didn't run away with Best Multiplayer, despite being probably the best multiplayer game I've ever played in well over 40 years of gaming.
The Golden Joysticks used to be fair and representative of quality back in the early 80s, now they're just a joke.

@Doma the only ones that deserve to be on that list to me are GTA and xcom which I didn't even know made its way to tablets awesome game and I can see last of us deserving that for story telling everything else to me is a joke seriously

The gaming world wants grotesque violence and softcore (for now...?) porn. I was hoping this industry could hold out a bit longer than every other form of entertainment in our culture so that my children could have an experience similar to the one I had growing up, but alas. Stand strong, Nintendo.

@Frapp I'm going to be honest here. I mean no disrespect to you what I'm about say. I don't know whether to take your post serious about your opinion on Pikmin and, ESPECIALLY W101. I'm not even going to debate it. I'll just respectfully disagree. Note that Pikmin 3 is an awesome game and I'll leave it at that.

@2Sang wow dude its going completely over your head what I'm saying is it just a weird coincidence that their games look best on their consoles and Wii even rival some older 360 games?
You honestly think that Nintendo just now stumbled on the tech to run games in 720&1080p? Do you think they couldn't make a 360 or ps3 like console during the start of last gen? Or you freaking kidding me right now?? Seriously I'm going lay down my head hurts so thanks for that

@2Sang Dude 360/PS3 barley used native 1080P for most of they games and anyway the resolution max was 720P. The Wii U was already stated from Nintendo and the rest from the tech heads that the system games mostly can go up to 1080P so WTF you talking about.

@Doma Truth. Hopefully Smash Bros. will change that next year.@Rafie This was just a poor year in general for video games. Pikmin 3 was pretty good and w101 didn't sell anything but looked ok. But home consoles are building up for the next couple of years.@D3athBr1ng3r187 most wii u games are playing in 720p right now, so I see no difference other than slightly more realistic shading. Just the fact that you can compare 1 year old and decade old technology is horrible. That's not the big deal though because that's not nintendo's strategy. Their failure so far to produce a groundbreaking game or even just some good games is why it's failing miserably.

@fluggy The Last Of Us felt like 'seen it all before' to me as well...it was one of my most anticipated games earlier in the year, but it's just Uncharted 3 with a tacked on Walking Dead style storyline. In terms of gameplay, all the survival stuff that was promised doesn't seem to be there. In Manhunt (a really old game now) you can hide in shadows, hide the bodies of people when you kill them, bang on walls to make noise distractions for enemies, improvise with weapons (like smash panes of glass to get glass shards) and there's multiple ways to dispatch enemies. The escort missions (the tramp and the journalist) also feel much more involving because you have to protect the other character and keep them alive. The Last Of Us just didn't have a lot of these features, the enemies couldn't even see Ellie and she was just like an invisible tag along. I'd argue that the atmosphere and storyline in the original Manhunt created much more fear and tension than anything in The Last Of Us as well. The Last Of Us has gorgeous visuals, but falls down in other areas IMO..

Sorry for the rant, but it just disappointed me in many ways. The Last Of US was way too story focused, to the point where you were just walking around big empty levels doing nothing apart from waiting for Joel or Ellie to say something. I didn't even like the way the story ended.

@2Sang Yes Nintendo is pretty disappointing this year I sold my system in the summer for the PS4 because of lack of titles but that doesn't mean that the system is a failure. They just need to have a better approach for next year which should be the right position. As for the visuals you aren't going to understand because you think what your eyes can see that all I can say.

@D3athBr1ng3r187I totally agree that it's not the end of the console. It's just been a major failure so far. I think MK8 Smash Bros. Yarn Yoshi and the next Zelda game could very well change that. nintendo had the opportunity to dominate for another gen, though and blew it by not releasing a must-have before the xbone and ps4 came out though.

LMFAO!!No wonder Nintendo did not win anything!!All they have done in the year the Wii U has been on the market is release rehash after rehash just sticking HD at the end of previous games and acted like it was brand new different game!!All the Wii U has is 3DS rehash Mario on same day Xbone One launches and then rehash Mario Kart, Rehash Smash Bros and then finally a new Zelda.....after that there is only Miyamoto new IP for Nintendo fans to look forward to after that ZERO!!!The new Mario game in December should have been Mario Galaxy 3 but no Nintendo played it safe once again and went with 3DS Mario rehash!!!Nintendo need at least 10 new franchises or come end of next year when the best games for Xbone One and PS4 come out the Wii U will be wiped off the planet!!

@2Sang To be honest, I think it's a wonderful year for games. Just not so much for Nintendo. I mean the 3DS is tearing it up right now. Beating out all of the consoles. Well so far we had some great games out this year. Bioshock Infinite was fantastic. The Last of Us was great (despite some of the hate people here give it), Far Cry 3 (still not a year old yet), GTAV, Pikmin 3, etc.

No I have to comment about why Nintendo is NOT failing. I can tell you it's certainly not their games. Their games keep them afloat. It's marketing. The 3DS is doing exceptional, while the Wii U is struggling. That can change with upcoming software. It'll push the hardware depending on what title it is.

RAFIE...LMFAO!!Ermm yes it is the GAMES it has been about the games SINCE DAY ONE and the dire LACK of them for nearly a year!!Windwaker HD bombed big time mainly due to it being a rehash and Nintendo asking full price for a 10 year old game with HD graphics!!Windwaker bombed all over the world as did rehash Pikmin 3, Wonderful 101 etc!!Nintendo needs new ideas for games instead rehash after rehash and the fact that 3rd party have also turned their backs from day one is another reason no one is buying it!!It is ALL Nintendo's fault...they are the ones that stupidly called it Wii U which was way to similar to Wii Fit which was an ADD ON for the Wii and what 80 percent of the gaming world still think the Wii U is!!Terrible confusing name,disgraceful launch games, delay after delay games and a ridiculous $350 price tag doomed Wii U from day one and it's first year on the market prove my point with ONLY 3.8 Million sold first year!!

@Kruger85 3ds Mario rehash seriously go get you some glasses big coke bottle ones because your eyes are shot and all that talk about 3.8 million its first year as bad as you say its doing that number isn't to far behind what the 360 and ps3 were around 5 mill for a console that has crap games and is junk like you say I wonder what's gonna happen when the Wii u actually gets some games on it?????

LDXD LMFAO!!!TYPICAL Nintendo fan bringing up first year PS3 numbers up....there is one MASSIVE DIFFERENCE....the PS3 at launch was $600!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!and is why it did not sell well first year and that was 6 YEARS AGO!!The Wii U was ONLY $350 at launch nearly half of what PS3 was so please don't use the PS3 numbers from 6 years ago when the PS3 was $250 more at launch than the Wii U!!!Even with the Wii U price drop sales hardly went up which again proves my point NO ONE cares for the Wii U Nintendo had their year head start and blew it big time...everyone else's focus is now on the next gen with both PS4 and Xbone already have over 2 Million pre orders!!

@Kruger85 You keep using the term "rehashed". Are you seriously calling sequels to games "rehashed"? Also Nintendo didn't ask for a $60 dollar tag for WWHD. They only thing that was rehashed was WWHD. Nintendo only did it because the fans asked for it. There are really no launch games that are great coming from any console. Kicking Nintendo while their down is pretty harsh man. The Wii U needs a chance. It hasn't been a year yet. Give the console time to get it's games out. Nobody puts out all of their blockbuster hits at launch!

Anyway, you said so yourself that the name is terrible, disgraceful launch, etc. That is all MARKETING! Nintendo has to market themselves a bit better these days.

RAFIE The fans asked for Windwaker did they?oh is that why it BOMBED all over the world?HAThe Wii U has been out a year yet you want to give Nintendo more time to sort out their marketing and games lineup?In it's first year it has only had 5 first party titles, the PS4 will have 14 EXCLUSIVES FIRST YEAR and the Xbone One 16!!Sorry but Mario and Zelda will not save Nintendo this time.

@Kruger85 The Wii U hasn't been out a year yet. It's still October, right?! The fans did ask for WWHD. I can't defend why it's not selling as it should, but that doesn't negate the fact that it's a good game. Sales doesn't mean everything! Otherwise there would be a plethora of games in the same boat.

Oh and about the PS4 and XB1 launch titles....they're not that great. You got one from PS4 worth mentioning and 2 from XB1. For PS4 it's Killzone and for XB1 you have DR3 and Killer Instinct. Outside of that, it's pretty much lame. I'm a fan of all systems, so I have no bias with one or another.

@Rafie Oh now doubt the 3ds is doing great. It shows nintendo can dominate no matter how far behind it is on technology. They know its the games that bring people to nintendo, and it's the best long-term strategy in all of media in my opinion. Games like FE and ACNL Luigi's Mansion etc. are games that people can go back and play 50 years from now, unlike Call of Halo '13 FIFA edition, which relies on looking "cool" rather than addictive and fun gameplay.

If Nintendo wants to gain any significant market share this generation, they have to advertise ASAP. I haven't seen a single ad on TV since Wii-U launched. Already Sony and Microsoft are both advertising the crap out of their consoles. Nintendo had a golden opportunity for a head start in the next gen race, and they blew it by not advertising.

It just looks like the main-stream hyped games that get golden joystick awards. I think the last of us .. is a great game but its to soon for gta-v. It's allways the cod games that get all the awards. For me cod and chips is much better. I own gta-v its a good game but gets very sameold quickly .. i gave gtav a rest to play Mighty switch force on wiiu and havent had so much fun in ages it feels like arcade games of past.

LOL at the people who keep saying the Wii U has not been out a year.....it was released 14th November last year it is now end of October a year later in 4 weeks time it will have been out a full year yet you fans think in 4 weeks it is somehow gonna sell millions more?LOL
The Wii U first year has the been the worst of any Nintendo console ever yet you still think the Wii U will recover and PLEASE dont use the 3DS excuse as that is a HANDHELD and I am talking about HOME consoles!!
Nintendo have proved year after year that they know how to market and sell handhelds their biggest issue has ALWAYS been Home consoles bar the Wii success.
NES 70 Million
SNES 45 Million
N64 30 Million
Gamecube 25 Million
Wii 100 Million

idk what ya'll are talking about... This list is quite solid. World of Tanks as best online.... I mean I can see why, but I don't agree.... And Witcher 3 as most anticipated I personally don't agree with - but again, it makes sense.

Call of Duty's award annoys as always, but given how the series has jumpstarted gaming addictions for 3/4 of the FPS-playing world, it makes reluctant sense too. What did Nintendo do in the last year that really merits any award-getting?

@FutureAlphaMaleTrevor was dreadful. Truly dreadful. So mindless he could have been penned by a 13 year old (apologies to any 13 year olds reading). More one-dimensional than any character in Paper Mario.I'm shocked anyone could be impressed by that pointless thug of a character.

Man... Wtf 1st off a Vita game 2nd of all AC that had low scores, everyone knows straight up Fire emblem awakening or shin megimi tensi IV or Animal crossing new leaf or even luigis mansion 2 but a Vita game and AC

Sigh... The Vita is not a bad handheld. I know Assassin's Creed III: Liberation is a choice that divides gamers, but the Vita has some good games. I wish people would stop dismissing it as some handheld that has only bad games. Does it beat the 3DS library?

No, but there are some good and very clever games like Gravity Rush on the system.

I own both a 3DS and Vita, and I will say that both have their share of really good games. Just like the DS and PSP years ago.

Guys, I would like to leave a reminder that we still have rules. Foul language, including censored language, will not be tolerated. Keep in mind this is an award show based on popular vote, so the "quality" of games will not necessarily be reflected.

Storm in a tea cup? who really cares ? If a game you like does not win an award does it make it any less of a "good game" and if a game wins does it make it a better game? NOPE. People who watch and care about pointless award ceremonies are very shallow, that goes for movie, music and tv awards. Over the years I've loved games which everybody else hated, and visa versa hated games which reviewed high (GTA) Do I care NOPE.

NL you are the most censored site on web. This is a forum where people have strong opinions, is it the end of the world if the odd swear word slips out?

@AdanVC You're right I had almost given up on my friends liking Pokémon, but a few days ago I told my best friend about Pokémon X, and Y, and he said He loved Pokémon I had almost decided to find new friends until that happened, and what's with zombies anyways they're repetetive, and boring you play one zombie, or gun game in general, you've played them all there's no point to buy them.

@SenarioYes, I know. Editing mistake after altering that sentence. Working late on a deadline and incompetence are my only excuses. I wasn't knocking Paper Mario characters at all btw, particularly TTYD.Back to the awards, I can't remember the last ones I generally agreed with, especially The Joysticks and E3.

@Mallard: Our Community Rules clearly state our policy regarding profanity in the first paragraph. We ask that you keep your posts clean while you are here. If you have any questions, the Contact Form is open to you.

I've always thought that the Golden Joysticks were a joke (along with the Spike Awards). Like the majority of people here, I am simply stunned that ACIII: Liberation won best handheld game. How utterly ridiculous. I can't help but think there was some funny business going on. As a couple of posters have pointed out, GTAV wasn't even released when voting began! How in the hell can anyone think that this is legitimate? IMO, a valid question, especially considering the source; CVG - one of the most untrustworthy gaming publications out there (which is saying something, considering how awful British journalism is, gaming or otherwise).

Oh, and why the hell does everyone like Steam so much? Since when is DRM acceptable on PC, but not on consoles? GOG FTW!

lol, any award would have been just plain bizarre. Their games may hold up in their own universe, but compared to 'Gaming' overall, they're way behind the pack. ZombiU being about the only one I can hold up next to PC and other console titles and say it holds its own.

@FutureAlphaMaleI know Sessler and what he said. Regarding Trevor: "One of the greatest characters not just in videogames, but in ALL of crime fiction!"

He also came up with this little gem: ""I can imagine, 200 years from now, like our reading of Dickens, the game will be regarded as a catalog of our contemporary travails, an accelerated reality bearing more truth than just gazing at our own reflection." Breathtaking!

If you want to side with a man capable of putting something so idiotic in print, be my guest, but I shall struggle to take you seriously.

Alright, I'll be honest...GTA V is a great game. GOTY worthy...? Sure. But the handheld game of the year cannot be Assassins Creed...I've played AC games on the PSP/Vita and it's not very good...I don't know who votes on this stuff but...damn.

FutureAlphaMale said, "That thought was over the top, I admit, but it's no more ridiculous than saying Trevor is a one dimensional character that could have been written by a 13 year old."Over the top? Just a little. I've seldom read more moronic statements in print, especially the second quote that dares to compare this rubbish with the legacy of our greatest story writer. Yes, of course many 13 year olds could easily pen a character as shallow as Trevor. What have Mario and DK got to do with this? Nothing. So why bring them up? I've given you several opportunities to explain exactly why you think he's a good character, but all you've done is cling to the insane overstatements of a nutter. Can't take you seriously and no longer interested in replying, so will have to agree to disagree.

"Perhaps the biggest surprise was in the Best Handheld Game category, where some high quality 3DS titles missed out to Assassin's Creed III: Liberation on the PS Vita."

Which is complete bull, because AssCreed Liberation is objectively the worst game of the nominees. I'm pretty sure none of the other games nominated had game breaking glitches that would ruin your save data and force you to restart the entire game from scratch like AC3L did.

In fact, it was pretty much nonsense that the game was even nominated in the first place. We should be bashing games that ship like that, not giving them awards. The game industry still has a lot of maturing to do.

@Yukari_SendoLOL same here, i truely hate Steam, i hate being dependent of thirdpary and i too had tons of problems playing Whitcher2 so i will never go to them ever again, they made me so mad and send me on goose chase when i had problems.

@schopaia Nintendo isnt one of the companys who pays for good reviews or threatens reviewers with embargos if they dont give out a certain score. Sure, they are one of the wealthieast game devs out there, but they dont fall into that kind of category, thats what i meant.

I really thought Pikmin 3 would have atleast won visual design because i havent seen that style anywhere before. It combined Realistic with Fantasy style and made it stand out to me. I understand Infinite did look amazing, but I felt like it wasnt anything new style wise! Not surprised with everything else!